67 Mk1 GT6 restoration

[byakk0]

Quoted from RedRooster

I thought you had a fully kitted out workshop, not a cupboard!

A cupboard would be bigger! 😀
Not a lot of room. Just a lot of determination, a few simple tools, and a lot of elbow grease.

[byakk0]

Gonna back up a little.
The past 2 months I have finished the passenger side suspension and started rebuilding the leaf spring.

I need to press out the bushing and replace them with the ones I have, and I have new thrust buttons on order so I can put it all together.


I built a spring compressor, and it worked like a charm.

[Mark E]

Love the blocks propping up the chassis, looks a game of giant Jenga 😀

[byakk0]

Yeah... That's what they remind me of.
Funny story there though.  I loaned my Jack stands to my neighbor (I have them back now) and these were temp Jack stands he had built for a project that needed 4, but was no longer using these.  So I had to borrow his because he borrowed mine! 😆

The bonus was that the wood was gentle on my newly coated chassis.

[byakk0]

One other item I refurbished was my steering rack.

The boots were in terrible shape, thankfully everything was still smooth inside.

I cleaned one side first and painted it before doing the other side. Odd, I know, but that's way it happened. I had a reason at the time. Must not be important as I don't recall what it was.


There is this odd little hole with a plastic plug I found under the rubber bushing. Folks on other forums seem to think it is an inspection point. Can anyone verify this or shed light on it otherwise?


Steering joint. The grounding strap is broken.


All ready to re-assemble. I had to get new securing nuts for the tie-rod ends as one of them got all buggered as I removed it, due to being severely rusted. I got a new one for the other side just to be safe, and so they would match as the other was a little thicker. The tie-rod ends were completely shot, one of them the rubber was gone and moved very freely.


Completed steering rack. I still need to fill it with grease and secure the ends.


Repaired steering joint. I took an internal grounding strap from another steering joint I have, and cleaned and painted it. The bolts were completely worn and 3 of them had to be replaced, two of them so stripped and worn from wobbling around they just fell out. Glad that never happened when I was driving it!
Thankfully I have other joints to take parts from. Not shown here, but I have since run new safety wire (.030 stainless) through the ends of the bolts to secure them in place. Aftermarket joints do not have this safety wire option, nor are the bolts with holes in the ends of them available anymore.


~Hazen

[byakk0]

So this brings me to current, at least the past 2 weeks since I rebuilt the chassis.

You'll recall only the passenger side front was only 1 of the four wheels I installed completely reconditioned.

Last week I rolled the chassis out and pulled the driver's side hub off. The upper and lower A-arms I had already reconditioned, as well as the spring and a new shock.


To keep my chassis a roller I installed a spitfire hub.

Left front Brake caliper. The pistons are free but the dust boots are completely gone. Rebuild necessary here. I put new brake pads on it back when I was driving it, and I highly doubt they have even 1,000 miles on them. I don't recall seeing the rubber in this condition back then, but that was 1995 or 96 and it has been sitting in a garage ever since. I could try my hand at rebuilding them, but I think I will ship it to Ted at TSI here in the States as he will rebuild them for $70 each, plus shipping. Not bad considering the pistons alone run $15-30 each. I can get the parts to rebuild for as cheap as around $90, but for another $50 I can let someone who does it professionally give it a go. I think this is one of the few items I can let someone else take a crack at, seeing as I am trying to do as much of this rebuild on my own as I can.


Here is my hub completely torn down. I tried to lay them out in an exploded diagram style layout, and also for future reference when I put it all back together.


I found the felt seal retainer cup backwards, cupping the felt as it should but against the bearing race. This will be corrected upon reassembly.

I let the parts soak in a bath of vinegar for about 5 days. I pulled them out last Monday and sprayed them off with sprayer nozzle on my garden hose and much of the rust flaked away, then I placed them back in the bath until Wednesday when I was able to spend some time working on them.


I again hosed off the parts. Caliper mounting bracket and the steering arm after only 5 minutes of cleaning with a wire brush on my angle grinder. I left them half clean and half hosed for comparison. You can see the hub too, after those 5 minutes of just sitting there, and the flash rust from being wet still, but mostly from the vinegar.


Cleaned up completely. I sprayed por-15's metal ready on the hub and it took care of the flash rust and neutralized any remaining vinegar.


Everything cleaned and ready for paint. In case you are wondering, the odd item is a 1" spacer/adapter for the Cragar rims I have.


All painted and ready for assembly.


And then I ran into some unfortunate trouble. Back in 95 when I was still driving the GT6 I purchased a major front end rebuilt kit from The Roadster Factory, with the intention then of tightening up the front end with new bushings and other parts. I looked through the shipment when it arrived and as far as I could tell then (hey, I was Triumph newbie then, maybe 1 year into it) everything was in order.
That brings me to current. The passenger side went together like a charm. But the driver's side, well now....
I went to attach the trunnion to the vertical link, and as luck would have it, it was for the other side. Seems I was shipped two passenger side trunnions some 18 years ago!
So, that means I am waiting for a new trunnion and the suspension sits in my garage unassembled.

The good news, The Roadster Factor feels my pain and is going to send me the correct one as I had purchased a kit. Further examination of the trunnion and I discovered it had been filled with grease-I got it that way in the shipment. I told the TRF as much in my email.
How's that for customer service? Fixing an order that was screwed up 18 years ago? Pretty good deal, I would say.

~Hazen

[thescrapman]

Quoted from byakk0

There is this odd little hole with a plastic plug I found under the rubber bushing. Folks on other forums seem to think it is an inspection point. Can anyone verify this or shed light on it otherwise?



~Hazen

The little plastic pellet (invariably missing after 40+ years) prevemts the long end of teh rack rattling in the tube.

There is a bit of tape to stop it falling out on the production line, and it is held in place by the rubber rack mount which provides the tension on it in service.

Cheers

Colin

[byakk0]

Oh, ok. I saw the remains of the tape when I took it apart. I kept the plastic pellet, and when I re-installed it, I wrapped some masking tape around it just like from the factory. My neighbor was surprised to see me use masking tape assemble my car!

[thescrapman]

Good to see you still have  the plastic pellet.

Usually a good sign the rack is still the original one.

I should have mentioned. If you fit alloy rack mounts, the pellet locks the rack.

As good a reason as I have heard for poly bushes.

Cheers

Colin

[byakk0]

Nah, just new rubber mounts for now. Easy enough to fit poly later if I want to go that route. I don't foresee any sort of racing, so no need. Comfort over performance is the way I see it.

Thanks for the info and the heads up though!

~Hazen

[Tim Bancroft]

Trouble is that modern rubber bushes are not as good as the old 'uns!

How about blue polybush units?

[byakk0]

maybe later. I've already installed most of the rubber, and upgrading to poly is an expense I can do without for now, as it lets me shift the funds to other areas, like getting the brakes rebuilt, as well as new hoses.

[byakk0]

I'll get the pics posted later but in my limited time I have gotten the radius arms cleaned and ready for paint, and the driveshaft is nearly clean and ready.

I've got to press out the bushings for the radius arms and the leaf spring and get those reinstalled, then I can finish assembling the spring with new thrust washers. Depending if the new trunnion shows up this week I would like to get the driver's side front re-assembled and reinstalled. If not, I want to remove the driver's side rear and redo it. I have a spare vertical link soaking in vinegar to remove what little rust is on it as it is mostly painted and well protected. I just want to freshen the paint and make it match rest of the suspension. All new brake parts for both sides on the rear, and I have bearing kits too.

I've also got a small problem with one of the wheel studs on the passenger side rear that has decided to come loose somehow. I;m curious to see why that has happened, and am hoping I don't have a broken hub, although I do have spares-just no hub puller. I'll be building one if I can't borrow one.

I also have brand-new lines to run. I decided to go all new as it has been many years since it has been on the road. Slicing a brake line with my grinder also had a little bit of a hand in making that decision.

I am so close to having the suspension (and the car) complete I can taste it.

[Phwoar]

Grinders should not be used by the unwary, or young 'uns!  

[byakk0]

True that. I'm on my 5th one, having worn out the others. Granted I bought the extra cheapos, but that only because the first lasted me 6 years, and replacements for the others were free. I've since upgraded to Porter Cable and am happy with it.

[byakk0]

okay, I didn't have the shots I thought I had. You'll have to settle for this boring picture of my rusty radius arms. They are Currently stripped and derusted, waiting on paint.
Didn't get a chance to work on the car today as my tenant moved out and I need to get the apartment ready to rent out again. Thank goodness its a duplex and I live in the other half.

Last time a tenant moved out I used the extra garage for a few weeks until it rented out again.



More pics coming later...

[byakk0]

Okay, todays update.

Here are the radius arms.


I also reattached the bolt plates to the underside, This is where the tub mounts to the chassis at the crossmembers.
I used a C-clamp and protected the finish with a piece of cardboard on the topside.




Now for the bad news. Back when I reassembled the chassis, I discovered a wheel stud was loose on the passenger side. At that point I was in a rush to get the project completed and everything put away (it was 4 AM!) that I did not take the time to explore this problem.
Today I did.

When I pulled the drum from the driver's side I found 3 studs loose. They had paper or something wrapped around the splines to shim them for some reason, and on 2 an attempt was made to weld them to the hub. I pressed these three out by hand with ease.



Passenger side.


I have yet to assess the true condition of the hubs, if they are in good condition or not. Thankfully I have spare axles I can take hubs from should I need to do so. I have wheel bearing kits I can use should the hubs need to be pulled, and I have a hub puller from Canleys on loan from a friend for that job.

In the mean time, I will get new studs and see if they will seat properly.

Here's the scary thing. See that center hub nut on the driver's side, and how it is nearly off the end of the spindle? I have never touched that since I have the car, and I drove it in this condition for 2 years before parking it. How I missed it is beyond me, I had the tires off many times.

Although, I never took the drums off. I have 1" adaptors for my rims, and unbolting those are just one more step to work on--don't misunderstand me though. I redid the front brakes and was planning on doing the back, but I parked the car before I got that far.
I have everything new to put on them when I get that far.

[toolmaker]

hi hazen,

i also have missing loose wheel studs on my car front and rear, i have some new studs, be interested to see how you put them in, have`nt thought about that yet.
my clamp plates on the crossmembers had stripped there threads, so i opened mine out to 3/8 unf . stronger job.
ian.

[WIMPUS]

On my spitfire i had the same problem, got other wheel studs with bigger splines in them.
The hub wears out and then the wheel studs come loose 🤔

[toolmaker]

what studs were those then?

[byakk0]

one on the passenger side and 3 on drivers side. All rear. Fronts are a-ok.
Someone tried to beef up the worn splines with paper or tape or something,  and attempted to weld 2 of them, though those welds have failed.
New studs are in order for sure,  at least the rear

[Paul Garvey]

You could look at using some Loctite and/or putting in beefier Land Rover Freelander M12x1.5 studs - popular mod for use with alloys.

[byakk0]

Quoted from Paul Garvey

You could look at using some Loctite and/or putting in beefier Land Rover Freelander M12x1.5 studs - popular mod for use with alloys.

I've heard that. Do the hub holes need to be drilled larger, and is this something that can be done without removing the hub? I have a puller but if I can avoid doing it I will.

[WIMPUS]

Quoted from toolmaker

what studs were those then?

I think i got them from ebay 2 years ago ..
And i think Jigsaw Racing sold them also, but can't find them on there site 🤔 😲

[toolmaker]

hazen, wimpus i found this mighjt interest you, i am going to go this way.
http://sideways-technologies.c.....-wheels-on-spitfire/